Dieppe: Tragedy to Triumph

The late General Whitaker wrote some very good books, and this is indeed one of them, but the conclusions drawn are not consistent with his usual high standards of scholarship. The raid on Dieppe will always be controversial. Whitaker may at first blush seem to be the most qualified to discuss it given that he was an actual participant, and the only officer of his brigade to return to the UK unwounded. Whitaker was a famous figure even in 1942, having played professional football for the Hamilton Tigers (and again in the UK in the Coffee Bowl) and earned distinction later on as the CO of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, and postwar as an historian, perhaps the best World War Two historian when it comes to overall campaigns. Whitaker was one of a very few historians to write about divisions and corps, and include the German side of the story, based on primary research. His book on Dieppe contains many nice touches - as all his books do - regarding the lives of the soldiers and officers, personal vignettes, and life-and-times kinds of details. However, he draws a lot of conclusions about Dieppe that don't seem to be supported by the historical record. Loring-Villa's book UNAUTHORIZED ACTION: MOUNTBATTEN AND THE DIEPPE RAID seems, to me, to be far more scholarly and presents the reader with much more dramatic evidence regarding why the Raid happened and what it achieved. Whitaker, on the other hand, comes off as an apologist with an obvious bias, and tries too hard to make the case that Dieppe was "necessary" for the Normandy landings to be a success - a conclusion that I disagree with. However, those with more of an open mind will like Whitaker's plain writing style, vivid descriptions of life for the soldiers, and his scholarly look at the decision making processes of the high commanders.